Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Misleader, Liar, or Both? NAEP and the Art of Manipulation

8th Grade NAEP Reading Scores at left (click charts to enlarge)

4th grade NAEP reading scores at left

And here is what the President said in his SOTU address:

"Minority students are closing the achievement gap, and student achievement is rising – more reading progress was made by 9-year-olds in five years than in the previous 28 years combined, and reading and math scores for 9-year-olds and fourth-graders have reached all-time highs.

Now below are 4th and 8 grade reading comparisons based on ethnicity:

And below is the chart (click it to enlarge) from which the President drew his conclusions that were delivered in his speech to show that NCLB is working: